Cleveland Indians: Could Mike Napoli Be Returning To The A.L. Central?
By Ryan Rosko
The Cleveland Indians could be seeing a familiar face quite often this upcoming season.
This offseason the Cleveland Indians have been the focus regarding a number of topics. Among them were signing 1B/DH Edwin Encarnacion and recently being rewarded the 2019 MLB All-Star Game.
Until Cleveland actually signed Encarnacion however was the possibility of re-signing 1B/DH Mike Napoli. Napoli has not been an option for the Tribe anymore for sometime.
The strange thing with that now is Napoli is still on the free agent market. He had an impactful season leading Cleveland to the World Series, but for some reason he has not found a new team.
That could change soon though and if it does, the Indians and their fans would see Napoli quite often. No, Cleveland did not make room for him to come back, but according to FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman, Napoli could head back to the A.L. Central as a member of the Minnesota Twins.
No official interest is known but adding Napoli to the Twins would make sense.
Napoli would actually seem to be a perfect fit for twins, a young team in need of leadership/hitter
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 28, 2017
As Heyman mentioned, given how they are a rebuilding, young team, Napoli could continue his leadership role there. The main difference of course being is that he would not be going to a winning franchise.
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Cleveland fans would still root for him when makes his way back to NE Ohio. Still, at this point of his career, I don’t see such a fit happening. Sure, something like this could occur, but Napoli does not have many more years left in the majors.
He should look to join another contender. He has already won the World Series before and now is the time to continue with that pursuit instead of joining a rebuild.
That all said, this is a two-way decision still at the end of the day. Should no championship contending teams want to sign Napoli, he will have to work with the options presented to him.
Right now this is all speculation, but Heyman could be on to something with Minnesota as a possible landing spot for Napoli. If he were to sign with the Twins, one of Cleveland’s division rivals, at least he would not end up with a championship contending team potentially affecting Cleveland’s chances of getting back to the World Series.
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At this point of time, I would not be surprised to see Napoli wait out his options into spring training. Wherever he ends up for the 2017 season, I wish him the best.